none to rival them. Italy may justly
glory in her Tiraboschi and her Mazzuchelli; Spain in the Bibliothecas
of Nicholas Antonio; and France, so rich in bibliographical treasures,
affords models to every literary nation of every species of literary
history. With us, the partial labour of the hermit Anthony for the
Oxford writers, compiled before philosophical criticism existed in the
nation; and Warton's History of Poetry, which was left unfinished at its
most critical period, when that delightful antiquary of taste had just
touched the threshold of his Paradise--these are the sole great labours
to which foreigners might resort, but these will not be found of much
use to them. The neglect of our own literary history has, therefore,
occasioned the errors, sometimes very ridiculous ones, of foreign
writers respecting our authors. Even the lively Chaudon, in his
"Dictionnaire Historique," gives the most extraordinary accounts of most
of the English writers. Without an English guide to attend such weary
travellers, they have too often been deceived by the _mirages_ of our
literature. They have given blundering accounts of works which do exist,
and chronicled others which never did exist; and have often made up the
personal history of our authors, by confounding two or three into one.
Chaudon, mentioning Dryden's tragedies, observes, that Atterbury
translated two into Latin verse, entitled _Achitophel_ and
_Absalom_![156]

Of all these foreign authors, none has more egregiously failed than this
good Father Quadrio. In this universal history of poetry, I was curious
to observe what sort of figure we made, and whether the fertile genius
of our original poets had struck the foreign critic with admiration or
with critical censure. But little was our English poetry known to its
universal historian. In the chapter on those who have cultivated "la
melica poesia in propria lingua tra, Tedeschi, Fiamminghi e
Inglesi,"[157] we find the following list of English poets.

"Of John Gower; whose rhymes and verses are preserved in manuscript in
the college of the most Holy Trinity, in Cambridge.

"Arthur Kelton, flourished in 1548, a skilful English poet: he composed
various poems in English; also he lauds the Cambrians and their
genealogy.

"The works of William Wycherly, in English prose and verse."

These were the only English poets whom Quadrio at first could muster
together! In his subsequent additions he caught the name of Sir Ph